Letters to Prisoners After Work
Dec 5, 2022- 2 min read
Although yesterday we had a really long day at the restaurant which left me with sharp leg aches, my partner picked me up to join the rest of our mutual aid buddies at pipsqueak. I took off the layers of clothes stained with jam and ketchup and began the second half of my day the best way possible.
Me and a few others within the collaborative group have started a new coalition where we focus on engaging with systems impacted folks. We want to go beyond our scope of giving free abolitionist books to our neighbors and move into building solidarity with imprisoned comrades. Not only are we working to connect with people confined by prisons, but also with immigrants detained at ICE center detentions.
Anyway, this time we came to meet organizers from Black and Pink and Beyond These Walls to begin understanding the needs of these communities. The main event was an invitation to write holiday letters to imprisoned Queer folks to make sure they knew they are not alone. This also helps show guards that queer people in these prisons are not forgotten and minimize threats of more abuse. It was hard to write hopeful notes for them, but definitely it meant that we could share the pain in some way.
After the event we hung out for hours and ate together. Among many amazing conversations this one has stuck with me the most:
We reflected on how energizing it was to work in community against systems of oppression and how we were proving wrong all those bigots who say that "capitalism is necessary because without monetary incentives, how would anyone ever want to work?".
The only work we enjoy is the unpaid work because we know that our labor is necessary for our survival. Mutual aid work has been the only one that brings a sense of purpose to our fight. This has completely revolutionized my sense of work. I do not dream to work under exploitive conditions for the opposition, but really I wish to work for the ending of such way of surviving. It is true, that under this current system I need to earn money to survive. But it is mutual aid work what truly energizes me and actually fights off the already established systems of oppression.
I have also been thinking about Tuesday's Mutual Aid Fair at the park. It was our first way of snow and not a single mutual aid group canceled. We showed up with free resources for our unhoused neighbors. It was freezing and we were all very uncomfortable standing out under the rain and snow for hours. But it was necessary work, especially in such rough beginning of this Winter season. People gave and took blankets, gloves, beanies, hot drinks and food, first aid supplies, pamphlets with recourses, and even books! All these resources and labor given for free. All because we believe this work is necessary for the survival of humanity.
